An interview with with Remy Priem, a PhD student at ISAE-SUPAERO in the field of aircraft design

Can you tell us about where you are coming from and what is your academic background before the PhD?

"After two years of preparatory courses in my home region, I came to ISAE-ENSICA at Jolimont. I studied aeronautics there, notably through courses in math, structure, computers, signal and fluid mechanics. After those first two years of studies, I took a gap year at ONERA in Toulouse and at Airbus Defence & Space in Portsmouth (UK). These internships helped me to choose my specializations in space studies and mathematics for my last year of the engineering program at ISAE-SUPAERO."

Why did you decide to enter a PhD program and why ISAE-SUPAERO ?

"During my internship at ONERA/DTIS, I discovered the world of research. At the start of my third year, my thesis supervisor and former internship tutor suggested that I continue with the work I had begun during my internship the year before. Furthermore, as I am a student at ISAE-SUPAERO, we quite naturally turned to the school for my thesis. Half of the financing and the thesis co-supervisor came from ISAE-SUPAERO, which motivated our choice even more."

Can you briefly explain the topic of your thesis ?

"Currently, researchers are working on new aircraft concepts. The lack of experience with these configurations requires us to use tools that are computationally expensive, very early on in the design phase. Substitution models are used and enriched to optimize these configurations over time. The high level of complexity in the number of variables and constraints poses problems. So I am working on methods to manage this kind of problem using substitution models."

How about life in Toulouse ? Any recommendation to see, go there ?

"Toulouse is a pleasant, easy place to live, notably thanks to the buses and subways that run until 3 in the morning on weekends. There are plenty of things for students to do and it is really dynamic. Recommendations for all times of day:
During the day: The BAPZ, a little tea room near Esquirol with pastries that are to die for.
In the evening: The Dispensary at Saint-Cyprien, an English pub that has quiz evenings, board games, concerts and Sunday morning brunch.
At night: Some may enjoy a pub crawl between Bear’s and G-Boy!"